2) "we currently have enough funds to support 226 more days of hosting"
I know it's possible for 1 and 2 to not contradict each other, but it certainly gives the appearance of being a potentially unsustainable service, and thus a potentially unreliable service. If I'm going to set up an email hosting account, I'm going to want to expect it to be available for the long haul.
1) "free for as long as the service exists" 2) "we currently have enough funds to support 226 more days of hosting given that no one supports the server costs
Hosting a simple email service such as Pawnmail is cheaper than the cost of hosting many individual mail servers for each domain, so the incentive to donate exists as long as individuals and companies value the service. Being financially open is an attempt to fix the problem met by Google and Microsoft, who have suddenly discontinued their free custom domain email hosting services within the last year.
Curious. What does the $0.30 figure take into account? Is it just server and IT or does it also include customer service and other administrative work?
The figure does not include administration, but donations may be used for human resources. After a reasonable amount is distributed, funds will go into the server budget, thus increasing the "days remaining" meter.
I will soon summarize this on the home page.
Last thing I saw with "free forever" on it was called Evony and it used to advertise all over my Facebook a few years ago.
I'd genuinely like more businesses like this to be up front with commercial plans just to give reassurance to its customers.